Nintendo Co. is close to an agreement with a U.S. production company to make an animated "Super Mario Bros." movie, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
The firm, Illumination Entertainment, is a producer of animated films for Comcast Corp.'s Universal Pictures. It has made "Minions" and "The Secret Life of Pets."
The potential deal follows an agreement Universal's theme-parks unit made with Nintendo two years ago to build attractions based on Mario and other characters, the newspaper said.
The 32-year-old Super Mario Brothers video game series and its spin-offs have sold more than 330 million units. Nintendo had revealed it was in talks with several Hollywood studios about making films based on its games.
